What the Night Brings
by PaleAutumn
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki comes from a famous and powerful family of witches. Even though he underwent the proper training for controlling and using his magic, he doesn't do it often. However, there is one thing that every creature agrees on: He could be the greatest or the most dangerous witch of all time.


I may or may not have rushed the ending, oops.

* * *

Blood trickled down the witch's arm. The knife used to cut it open was carelessly dropped on the ground of the forest. The injured witch lifted her arm and squeezed out what blood she could into the container presented to her. Feeling lightheaded, she put her arm down and stopped. Her fellow witch closed the container and examined it briefly before nodding her head in approval. She looked down at injured one and just barely made out her form in the darkness of midnight, a time where the coven's powers were at its peak for the upcoming ritual.

"Are you going to be alright, Hinamori?" She questioned, leaving a roll of bandages next to her for her convenience. Without even looking up because of the dizziness, Hinamori nodded.

"You can go on ahead, High Priestess Unohana."

Without another word, she left. The rest of the witches were gathered in a circle formation surrounding the rune drawn on the ground. For a few minutes, Unohana had trouble finding her place amongst them without light to help guide her. She had to be careful with the container, too. When she did, the ritual began. Unohana looked at the other High Priests for the signal. The leader, Shunsui, looked up from his watch and asked her to continue. She opened the container. It was filled to the brim with blood. Blood from almost every witch gathered this night over a period of time. Tipping over the container, Unohana steadily poured the blood onto the summoning circle, not stopping until the container was completely empty.

Slowly, the blood spread across the symbol etched into the forest ground and, in unison, they brought their hands over it and began chanting under their breath in order to call upon the creature they wanted. A demon who would fulfill their wishes.

"Spirits of the night, I beseech thee," they said, their mumbles becoming echoes. Once the chant began, the blood began to react by emitting its own red light, glowing and providing the one light source in the darkness. Now, the forest was enveloped in an unnatural light. If anyone was awake to witness the event, they'd see the faintest of glows from the depths of the forest.

"Find favor with mine call and summons." As they chanted, it seemed the light was beginning to concentrate in an area. It was coming.

"Thy powers do I wish invoke for things that need to be done." All the witches closed their eyes and waited. Silence engulfed the coven. No one made a sound. The now-dried blood remained on the ground and stopped glowing, leaving the witches blind. For a few moments, they all looked amongst themselves, thinking they had failed in completing the summoning, but then two yellow eyes revealed themselves as if the dark couldn't touch it, as if it, too, was afraid to draw nearer. The demon arrived. It was unmoving and some witches had to refrain from running. The dark was a demon's domain and it could be doing anything when hidden in shadows. Even the occasional brush of its tail on the ground made them tense.

There was a sound of someone stepping forward. The demon turned to the source of the sound while others watched with their breaths held and their hearts pounding.

"I'd like to introduce myself. I am Shunsui Kyoraku, the Highest Priest of the coven you see here. We'd like for you to do something for us," he addressed the demon calmly, "We are the Soul Society, a coven of witches."

The yellow eyes glanced around at the circle gathered around it and then to the pool of blood at its feet that was soaking the ground. Though some of the strongest members of the Soul Society were gathered, the amount of care and sacrifices they had to make were too grand to think of the demon as anything other than powerful. Unstoppable. Was it even the right one? Tentatively, so as to not seem like a threat, some of the witches conjured fire in their palm to finally get a look at one of the most dangerous demons out there. White. That was the first thing they saw. And then it was the vicious, pointed horns on its head and the massive black wings and its pointed tail. When the light hit its face, it had an amused grin on its face.

"You must be desperate," its distorted voice echoed throughout the area, "to summon me for an errand." It laughed under its breath and ignored Shunsui's introduction. "I'm sure you already know my name if you summoned me here."

"Of course. Then we'll skip the introductions and get right to business, Shirosaki."

Shirosaki's grin widened. He liked the sound of that much better, besides, it's been awhile since he was last summoned by someone and his blood was pumping to finally do something.

"We want you to get rid of someone."

* * *

Ichigo let out a puff of air, watching silently as it disappeared again. Winter was finally approaching and it was getting colder. Shifting around a little in his jacket, he trudged forward on the path through the forest. It wasn't the time of year for the anniversary, but something was telling him that he needed to get there. It wasn't often he felt the presence of other supernatural beings often … He doesn't practice magic as often as he used to and even then, he could only ever feel the direct gaze of another being. Ever since his Mom's death though, he only ever used his magic for self defense, realizing his own magic was too powerful to release recklessly. The closer he got to the cemetery, the more his blood seemed to turn into ice and it felt nothing short of terrible, especially in the winter. Ichigo bit his lip. It was a demon up ahead then. Each creature had their own presence and it affected people physically, so it was difficult for such creatures to hide, which had its own risks and benefits.

Bundling himself further in his jacket, he kept moving forward, confident he can handle whatever was up ahead by his own evaluation of himself. Ichigo knew his last name held its own power, but he also knew that he had tons of magic at his fingertips. Spells that even the most experienced may have difficulty casting. He didn't want anyone else caught up in the upcoming mess even if he needed backup.

He reached the graves. And in front of his Mom's grave stood a pale man, who seemed engrossed in the tombstone. Ichigo could barely move with the shivers racking his entire body, a sure sign that this was the demon he was looking for. He opened his palm to face the demon, letting fire envelop his entire arm.

"Get away from there."

Shirosaki turned toward the newcomer, his target, and didn't seem to regard the fire in any way. Sighing, he turned his attention back to the grave. Masaki Kurosaki. Ichigo practically growled and shot a burst of flame his way. Suddenly, Shirosaki manifested his wings and simply batted it away. But a hiss of pain escaped him. The fire singed his wing slightly. Ichigo smirked when he noticed the demon's surprise. He was being underestimated.

"You're Ichigo, then?" The demon asked, ignoring the burn for other important matters.

"If you know who I am, then you should know you shouldn't mess around with me."

"I could say the same."

The demon lunged forward so quickly that Ichigo could barely process what happened. Until he felt pain. Ichigo looked down and saw the demon's claws digging through his abdomen. Blood tried to force itself out of his mouth, but he kept it in. The witch grabbed the demon's arm and sent a shock through his body. Immediately, Shirosaki let go, feeling himself unable to control his body for a bit. Ichigo backed off and let himself heal. Shit … he didn't expect a demon this strong. For some reason, he thought the demon was going easy though.

"Your mother was well-known for her abilities back then, you know." Shirosaki transferred his voice over to Ichigo whilst still trying to will his body to move with Ichigo's lightning spell still in his body. It felt intrusive. However, the topic of his Mom piqued his interest. He's never heard much about her past. He didn't attack.

Seeing the effect it had, Shirosaki continued. "She was the last person who summoned me before today." He remembered her well enough. Kurosaki was a family name he could never forget. Ichigo glared at the demon, just daring him to attack again. Placing his palm against the ground, he placed a protective wall around him with the earth. Without ceasing their connection, Shirosaki managed to lift his head and cast his own runes on the wall to try and break it.

"She asked me to hide the Kurosaki family away so other witches would think the bloodline died off," The earth wall started to crack, "You drew attention to yourself in the end." It shattered. Ichigo was prepared and had a bow with an arrow imbued with fire magic pointed at Shirosaki. He shot it and it caught on Shirosaki's tail when he tried to dodge. Instead of fading, the fire travelled further and left his tail completely burnt. Ichigo huffed and used water instead to somehow enclose the demon. "As if I'd believe you! It was your species that killed her in the first place!"

"Do you really believe that?" With that voice in his head, Ichigo stopped short. That allowed ample time for Shirosaki to launch forward and wrap his tail around his enemy and threw him against the tree, practically breaking bones. His head was spinning. He didn't want to hear it. Without his concentration, he couldn't cast his stronger spells.

"You were betrayed by your own people. Your mother hid your family from them, but I'm here as proof that they found you again."

Ichigo tried getting up, but to no avail. Pain shot through his spine and made him fall back down. This was going to be his deathbed. "Why … why would they want us dead?" After he said those words, he felt fear. What about his family back home? His Dad, his sisters … he realized what Shirosaki was here for. No, what the witches were here for.

"You … you weren't ordered to kill me." Ichigo mumbled in exasperation. They were after the future bloodline of Kurosaki witches. Shirosaki smirked and bent down to look at the fallen witch.

"No, that's a bonus if you die here. You underestimate the jealousy and treachery of witches."

"My sisters haven't even manifested their powers yet! Spare them at least if you were meant to let the Kurosaki witches die." Ichigo begged, knowing he can do nothing else. He attempted to cast another spell. He did hit the demon, however, it was too weak to deter him. He couldn't focus on spell casting with everything happening. With panic overriding his system.

"They're most likely already dead." It was stated so nonchalantly, Ichigo almost wouldn't believe it.

"Please …" In determination, Ichigo tried to cast another and managed to blast a hole through Shirosaki's wing. Crying out in pain, he growled down at the Kurosaki witch. In anger, he ran his claws down Ichigo's chest. Ichigo could barely keep himself conscious now.

"If you wanna join them, I'll gladly do that." Shirosaki whispered, not even bothering to hide his rage.

"What … did my mother give ... to summon you?"

"Nothing. She was the only one to successfully call me on their last few breaths. But it was her life for yours."

Ichigo looked up at the demon staring down at him. The demon who essentially admitted to saving him at the cost of his Mom's life the day that it all happened. As per a request by his Mom no less.

"My life for theirs."

"What?" Shirosaki didn't understand. "You're already dying, it means nothing to me."

"... We can pass on our power, can't we?"

Unable to hide his surprise at the offer, Shirosaki just stared at Ichigo. Was he seriously willing to give up just for the life of his family? But there was no way he could ever pass on an offer like this, not when it was this good. Shirosaki held out his hand. Ichigo looked at him and then back down to his outstretched palm. Sighing, Ichigo concentrated and formed a small ball of light in front of him and let it transfer over to the demon. Once it got there, it disappeared into him. Then, Ichigo closed his eyes and taking that as his invitation, Shirosaki moved around his tail a bit to test if it was still functional and passed it through Ichigo's heart.

Once it was over, the demon turned around to head back down the path. He outstretched his wings and before taking off, looked back at the young witch.

"It was an honor fighting with you … Ichigo." Another name he wouldn't forget. It was his power he had now. He took off and flew toward the Kurosaki household.


End file.
